Houston, we have… another problem. For the second time in a row, Intuitive Machines managed to land a spacecraft on its side instead of, you know, upright. Their Athena lander touched down on the lunar surface last Thursday, promptly tipped over like a drunk, and died the next day because its solar panels weren’t catching enough rays.

(Source: Giphy) 

Naturally, investors reacted the only way they know how—by yeeting the stock. Shares of Intuitive Machines plummeted 22% on Friday, marking a brutal two-day selloff that wiped out nearly half the stock’s recent gains.

If this all sounds familiar, that’s because it literally just happened last year with Intuitive’s Odysseus lander, which suffered the same t*ts up fate. At this point, it’s less of an accident and potentially more of a design feature LOL. Now to be fair, landing on the moon is hard—just ask Astrobotic, whose lunar lander didn’t even make it to the surface earlier this year. But when your entire business model revolves around not screwing this up, stacking two sideways landings in a row isn’t exactly making progress.

(Source: New York Times) 

What’s more is that NASA hasn’t even commented yet (presumably because their spokespeople are just now recovering from getting shafted by Boeing’s epic clusterf**k’s). But, but, but… it’s not all kicking space rocks. Competitor Firefly Aerospace, meanwhile, just pulled off a flawless lunar landing with its Blue Ghost lander, proving that it is possible to stick a simple landing. 

So what’s next for Intuitive? Well, despite the bad optics, some analysts are still betting on Intuitive Machines to be a key player in the commercial moon race. Cantor Fitzgerald even argued that this shouldn’t destroy the company’s credibility, though one more sideways touchdown might change that tune real quick. 

(Source: Reuters) 

The real question though, is will NASA (and private customers) keep signing checks only to watch their investments go up in flames? Only time will tell, of course—but Intuitive Machines still has more missions in the pipeline, including a 2027 trip to deliver payloads that could help solve the mystery of lunar water. But if they don’t figure out how to park first, they might find themselves sitting out of future contracts. 

Meaning, no bueno for investors who will likely start looking for other space stocks to pump (and eventually dump). For now, it’s clear that the private-sector moon rush is heating up, but two sideways landings in a row means Intuitive Machines now has something to prove—to NASA, to investors, and to anyone else side-eying their double or nothing failure. 

(Source: Giphy) 

So yeah, that’s the story here. In the meantime, keep your eyes on Intuitive, especially considering the pressure that’s formed in shares. Two failures in a row will likely make one win an even bigger of a win—and once that happens, I have no doubt Intuitive will experience an exaggerated surge to follow. Of course, don’t quote me on that—I don’t have a crystal ball. 

But still, place your bets accordingly, and stay safe and stay frosty, friends! Until next time… 

P.S. $1.4 million, $1.02 million, $6.715 million and $25.3 million—these aren’t lottery winnings or Miami real estate prices… they’re all insider transactions that have gone down in the last week while retail investors were busy panic-selling everything. Want to track these corporate fat cats in real-time so you can pretend you're also an executive with material nonpublic information? (Legally, of course.) Click here to join Stocks.News premium while you still can…

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